7/2009 - Present (Short Focal Length)

This imaging setup shows both the main telescope (left), a Vixen ED80Sf, and the autoguiding telescope, an Orion ShortTube 80mm.

Attached to the guidescope (right) is the autoguider camera, a small CMOS device that is used to keep a guide star perfectly centered during long exposures.

I made the side-by-side mount myself from plate steel and a dovetail bar from Vixen. I also made the drawtube bracket on the guidescope to help secure it. If it moves, the resulting image suffers from flexure.

The main imaging camera is a Canon 40D modified DSLR. It was modified by Hap Griffin to remove the internal infrared filter thereby allowing better sensitivity to the red emission nebulae.

While it's difficult to see in this image, the mount shown is the SkyView Pro, but the actual setup uses a much beefier mount, the Orion Atlas EQ-G.